Nitzia Scott (born October 10, 1990),[1][2] better known by her stage name Nitty Scott (formerly known as Nitty Scott, MC), is an Americanemcee from Brooklyn, New York. Her breakthrough came in 2010, when the video for her freestyle over "Monster" went viral,[3] she has performed at the BET hip hop awards and the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival, among others. Scott released her debut street album The Cassette Chronicles in 2011, followed by her critically acclaimed EP The Boombox Diaries, Vol. 1 in 2012 and her debut album Art Of Chill in 2014. She followed it up with her second album, “Creature!”, in 2017.

Scott was born in Michigan and raised in Orlando, Florida,[1] her mother is Puerto Rican and her father is African American from New Orleans.[4] Scott started rapping at the age of 14, while she was attending art school with a major in creative writing, she found writing a form of personal expression and was creating poetry before transitioning to become a musician.[2][5] At the age of 17, she moved to Brooklyn, New York to pursue a career as a rapper,[1] she graduated from the Secondary School for Journalism at John Jay High School in Park Slope, Brooklyn.[3] While in New York, Scott created the Boombox Family hip-hop movement to "preserve and progress hip-hop culture". Due to internal changes, Nitty dissolved the Boombox Family label in 2014 and began other independent business ventures; in an interview with MSN she stated that if she hadn't pursued a career as a musician, she would have attended college to study Journalism and Broadcast Communications.[6]

Scott released her first official EP The Boombox Diaries, Vol. 1 on August 28, 2012. The record features production from 6th Sense, AraabMuzik, Cassius Clay, DJ Tedsmooth, !llmind and J57, and has guest appearances by Kendrick Lamar, Action Bronson and The Kid Daytona, among others. It was supported by the lead single "Auntie Maria's Crib",[10] the EP received the Editor's Pick at DJ Booth.[10] In a positive review, Nick De Molina of XXL gave it an XL rating, describing Nitty as a "conscious rapper" and praised the production as "strong and diverse".[11]

On June 16, 2013, Scott released her video for the song "Flower Child" featuring Kendrick Lamar on MTV Jams, the video shoot was completely funded through the support of fans and contributors to her Kickstarter campaign.[12] On May 23, 2014, Scott released her debut album The Art of Chill.”

1.
Michigan
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Michigan /ˈmɪʃᵻɡən/ is a state in the Great Lakes and Midwestern regions of the United States. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, Michigan is the tenth most populous of the 50 United States, with the 11th most extensive total area. Its capital is Lansing, and its largest city is Detroit, Michigan is the only state to consist of two peninsulas. The Lower Peninsula, to which the name Michigan was originally applied, is noted to be shaped like a mitten. The Upper Peninsula is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, the two peninsulas are connected by the Mackinac Bridge. The state has the longest freshwater coastline of any political subdivision in the world, being bounded by four of the five Great Lakes, as a result, it is one of the leading U. S. states for recreational boating. Michigan also has 64,980 inland lakes and ponds, a person in the state is never more than six miles from a natural water source or more than 85 miles from a Great Lakes shoreline. What is now the state of Michigan was first settled by Native American tribes before being colonized by French explorers in the 17th century, the area was organized as part of the larger Northwest Territory until 1800, when western Michigan became part of the Indiana Territory. Eventually, in 1805, the Michigan Territory was formed, which lasted until it was admitted into the Union on January 26,1837, the state of Michigan soon became an important center of industry and trade in the Great Lakes region and a popular immigrant destination. Though Michigan has come to develop an economy, it is widely known as the center of the U. S. automotive industry. When the first European explorers arrived, the most populous tribes were Algonquian peoples, which include the Anishinaabe groups of Ojibwe, Odaawaa/Odawa, the three nations co-existed peacefully as part of a loose confederation called the Council of Three Fires. The Ojibwe, whose numbers are estimated to have been between 25,000 and 35,000, were the largest, French voyageurs and coureurs des bois explored and settled in Michigan in the 17th century. The first Europeans to reach what became Michigan were those of Étienne Brûlés expedition in 1622, the first permanent European settlement was founded in 1668 on the site where Père Jacques Marquette established Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan as a base for Catholic missions, missionaries in 1671–75 founded outlying stations at Saint Ignace and Marquette. Jesuit missionaries were received by the areas Indian populations, with relatively few difficulties or hostilities. In 1679, Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle built Fort Miami at present-day St. Joseph, in 1691, the French established a trading post and Fort St. Joseph along the St. Joseph River at the present day city of Niles. The hundred soldiers and workers who accompanied Cadillac built a fort enclosing one arpent, cadillacs wife, Marie Thérèse Guyon, soon moved to Detroit, becoming one of the first European women to settle in the Michigan wilderness. The town quickly became a major fur-trading and shipping post, the Église de Saint-Anne was founded the same year

2.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci

3.
Brooklyn
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Brooklyn is the most populous borough of New York City, with a Census-estimated 2,636,735 residents in 2015. It borders the borough of Queens at the end of Long Island. Today, if New York City dissolved, Brooklyn would rank as the third-most populous city in the U. S. behind Los Angeles, the borough continues, however, to maintain a distinct culture. Many Brooklyn neighborhoods are ethnic enclaves, Brooklyns official motto, displayed on the Borough seal and flag, is Eendraght Maeckt Maght which translates from early modern Dutch as Unity makes strength. Since 2010, Brooklyn has evolved into a hub of entrepreneurship and high technology startup firms. The history of European settlement in Brooklyn spans more than 350 years, the neighborhood of Marine Park was home to North Americas first tidal mill. It was built by the Dutch, and the foundation can be seen today, however, the area was not formally settled as a town. Many incidents and documents relating to this period are in Gabriel Furmans early compilation, what is today Brooklyn left Dutch hands after the final English conquest of New Netherland in 1664, a prelude to the Second Anglo–Dutch War. The English reorganized the six old Dutch towns on southwestern Long Island as Kings County on November 1,1683 and this tract of land was recognized as a political entity for the first time, and the municipal groundwork was laid for a later expansive idea of Brooklyn identity. On August 27,1776 was fought the Battle of Long Island, the first major engagement fought in the American Revolutionary War after independence was declared, and the largest of the entire conflict. British troops forced Continental Army troops under George Washington off the heights near the sites of Green-Wood Cemetery, Prospect Park. The fortified American positions at Brooklyn Heights consequently became untenable and were evacuated a few days later, One result of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 was the evacuation of the British from New York City, celebrated by residents into the 20th century. The New York Navy Yard operated in Wallabout Bay for the entire 19th century, the first center of urbanization sprang up in the Town of Brooklyn, directly across from Lower Manhattan, which saw the incorporation of the Village of Brooklyn in 1817. Reliable steam ferry service across the East River to Fulton Landing converted Brooklyn Heights into a town for Wall Street. Ferry Road to Jamaica Pass became Fulton Street to East New York, Town and Village were combined to form the first, kernel incarnation of the City of Brooklyn in 1834. Industrial deconcentration in mid-century was bringing shipbuilding and other manufacturing to the part of the county. Each of the two cities and six towns in Kings County remained independent municipalities, and purposely created non-aligning street grids with different naming systems and it later became the most popular and highest circulation afternoon paper in America. The publisher changed to L. Van Anden on April 19,1842, on May 14,1849 the name was shortened to The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, on September 5,1938 it was further shortened to Brooklyn Eagle

4.
New York (state)
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New York is a state in the northeastern United States, and is the 27th-most extensive, fourth-most populous, and seventh-most densely populated U. S. state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont to the east. With an estimated population of 8.55 million in 2015, New York City is the most populous city in the United States, the New York Metropolitan Area is one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. New York City makes up over 40% of the population of New York State, two-thirds of the states population lives in the New York City Metropolitan Area, and nearly 40% lives on Long Island. Both the state and New York City were named for the 17th-century Duke of York, the next four most populous cities in the state are Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse, while the state capital is Albany. New York has a diverse geography and these more mountainous regions are bisected by two major river valleys—the north-south Hudson River Valley and the east-west Mohawk River Valley, which forms the core of the Erie Canal. Western New York is considered part of the Great Lakes Region and straddles Lake Ontario, between the two lakes lies Niagara Falls. The central part of the state is dominated by the Finger Lakes, New York had been inhabited by tribes of Algonquian and Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans for several hundred years by the time the earliest Europeans came to New York. The first Europeans to arrive were French colonists and Jesuit missionaries who arrived southward from settlements at Montreal for trade, the British annexed the colony from the Dutch in 1664. The borders of the British colony, the Province of New York, were similar to those of the present-day state, New York is home to the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of the United States and its ideals of freedom, democracy, and opportunity. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. On April 17,1524 Verrazanno entered New York Bay, by way of the now called the Narrows into the northern bay which he named Santa Margherita. Verrazzano described it as a vast coastline with a delta in which every kind of ship could pass and he adds. This vast sheet of water swarmed with native boats and he landed on the tip of Manhattan and possibly on the furthest point of Long Island. Verrazannos stay was interrupted by a storm which pushed him north towards Marthas Vineyard, in 1540 French traders from New France built a chateau on Castle Island, within present-day Albany, due to flooding, it was abandoned the next year. In 1614, the Dutch under the command of Hendrick Corstiaensen, rebuilt the French chateau, Fort Nassau was the first Dutch settlement in North America, and was located along the Hudson River, also within present-day Albany. The small fort served as a trading post and warehouse, located on the Hudson River flood plain, the rudimentary fort was washed away by flooding in 1617, and abandoned for good after Fort Orange was built nearby in 1623. Henry Hudsons 1609 voyage marked the beginning of European involvement with the area, sailing for the Dutch East India Company and looking for a passage to Asia, he entered the Upper New York Bay on September 11 of that year

5.
Hip hop music
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It developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements, MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching with turntables, break dancing, and graffiti writing. Other elements include sampling beats or bass lines from records, while often used to refer solely to rapping, hip hop more properly denotes the practice of the entire subculture. Hip hops early evolution occurred as sampling technology and drum machines became available and affordable. Turntablist techniques such as scratching and beatmatching developed along with the breaks and Jamaican toasting, rapping developed as a vocal style in which the artist speaks or chants along rhythmically with an instrumental or synthesized beat. The Sugarhill Gangs 1979 song Rappers Delight is widely regarded to be the first hip hop record to gain popularity in the mainstream. The 1980s marked the diversification of hip hop as the genre developed more complex styles, prior to the 1980s, hip hop music was largely confined within the United States. However, during the 1980s, it began to spread to scenes in dozens of countries. New school hip hop was the wave of hip hop music, originating in 1983–84 with the early records of Run-D. M. C. The Golden age hip hop period was a period between the mid-1980s and the early 1990s. Notable artists from this era include the Juice Crew, Public Enemy, & Rakim, Boogie Down Productions and KRS-One, EPMD, Slick Rick, Beastie Boys, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane, Ultramagnetic MCs, De La Soul, and A Tribe Called Quest. Gangsta rap is a subgenre of hip hop that often focuses on the violent lifestyles, in the West Coast hip hop style, G-funk dominated mainstream hip hop for several years during the 1990s. I. G. In the 1990s, hip hop began to diversify with other regional styles emerging, such as Southern rap, at the same time, hip hop continued to be assimilated into other genres of popular music, examples being Neo soul and nu metal. Hip hop became a pop music genre in the mid-1990s. The popularity of hip hop music continued through the 2000s, with hip hop influences also increasingly finding their way into mainstream pop, the United States also saw the success of regional styles such as crunk, a Southern genre that emphasized the beats and music more than the lyrics. Starting in 2005, sales of hip hop music in the United States began to severely wane, during the mid-2000s, alternative hip hop secured a place in the mainstream, due in part to the crossover success of artists such as OutKast and Kanye West. Creation of the hip hop is often credited to Keith Cowboy, rapper with Grandmaster Flash. However, Lovebug Starski, Keith Cowboy, and DJ Hollywood used the term when the music was known as disco rap. Cowboy later worked the hip hop cadence into a part of his stage performance, the first use of the term in print was in The Village Voice, by Steven Hager, later author of a 1984 history of hip hop

6.
Rapping
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The components of rapping include content, flow, and delivery. Rap differs from spoken-word poetry in that rap is performed in time to a beat. Rapping is often associated with and an ingredient of hip-hop music. Rapping is also used in Kwaito music, a genre originated in Johannesburg, South Africa. Another form of rap that predates hip hop was boxer Muhammad Alis rhythmic poetry used to taunt his opponents in the 1960s and 1970s, rapping can be delivered over a beat, typically provided by a DJ, turntablist or Beatboxer, or without accompaniment. Stylistically, rap occupies an area between speech, prose, poetry, and singing. The word, as used to describe quick speech or repartee, the word had been used in British English since the 16th century. It was part of the African American dialect of English in the 1960s meaning to converse, today, the terms rap and rapping are so closely associated with hip-hop music that many writers use the terms interchangeably. The English verb rap has various meanings, such as to strike, especially with a quick, smart, or light blow, as well to utter sharply or vigorously, to rap out a command. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary gives a date of 1541 for the first recorded use of the word with the meaning to utter sharply, vigorously and it is these meanings from which the musical form of rapping derives, and this definition may be from a shortening of repartee. A rapper refers to a performer who raps, by the late 1960s, when Hubert G. Brown changed his name to H. Rap was used to describe talking on records as early as 1971, on Isaac Hayes album Black Moses with track names such as Ikes Rap, Ikes Rap II, Ikes Rap III, Hayes husky-voiced sexy spoken raps became key components in his signature sound. Del the Funky Homosapien similarly states that rap was used to refer to talking in a manner in the early 1970s. Back then what rapping meant, basically, was you trying to convey something—youre trying to convince somebody, thats what rapping is, its in the way you talk. Rapping can be traced back to its African roots, centuries before hip-hop music existed, the griots of West Africa were delivering stories rhythmically, over drums and sparse instrumentation. Such connections have been acknowledged by modern artists, modern day griots, spoken word artists, mainstream news sources. Grammy-winning blues musician/historian Elijah Wald and others have argued that the blues were being rapped as early as the 1920s, Wald went so far as to call hip hop the living blues. A notable recorded example of rapping in blues music was the 1950 song Gotta Let You Go by Joe Hill Louis, not just jazz music and lyrics but also jazz poetry

7.
Kendrick Lamar
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Kendrick Lamar Duckworth is an American hip hop recording artist and songwriter. He began to gain recognition in 2010, after his first retail release, the following year, Lamar independently released his first studio album, Section.80, which included his debut single, HiiiPoWeR. By that time, he had amassed a large Internet following and collaborated with artists in the hip hop industry, including The Game, Snoop Dogg. Lamar secured a record deal with Aftermath and Interscope Records. His major-label debut, good kid, m. A. A. d city, was released in October 2012 to critical success and it debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart and was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The record contained the top 40 singles Swimming Pools, Bitch, Dont Kill My Vibe, Lamar won his first Grammy Award for i, lead single from his critical acclaimed third album To Pimp a Butterfly. The album drew on jazz, funk, soul, and spoken word, debuted atop the charts in the US and the UK. In 2016, Lamar released untitled unmastered, a collection of unreleased demos that originated during the recording sessions for Butterfly. Lamar has received a number of accolades over the course of his career, in early 2013, MTV named Lamar the number one Hottest MC in the Game, on their annual list. Time named Lamar one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016, Kendrick Lamar was born in Compton, California, the son of a couple from Chicago, Illinois. His first name was given to him by his mother in honor of American singer-songwriter Eddie Kendricks and he grew up on welfare and section 8 housing. As a child, Lamar attended McNair Elementary in the Compton Unified School District, as a teenager, Lamar went on to attend Centennial High School in Compton, where he was a straight-A student. In 2004, at the age of 16, Lamar released his first full-length project, the mixtape was released under Konkrete Jungle Muzik and garnered local recognition for Lamar. The mixtape led to Lamar securing a contract with Top Dawg Entertainment. He began recording material with the label and subsequently released a 26 track mixtape two years later, titled Training Day. Throughout 2006 and 2007, Lamar would appear alongside other up-and-coming West Coast rappers, such as Jay Rock and Ya Boy, under the moniker K-Dot, Lamar was also featured on The Games songs The Cypha and Cali Niggaz. Lamar garnered further recognition after a video of a performance of a Charles Hamilton show surfaced. Lamar did not hesitate and began rapping a verse over the instrumental to Miilkbones Keep It Real, after receiving a co-sign from Lil Wayne, Lamar released his third mixtape in 2009, titled C4, which was heavily themed around Waynes Tha Carter III LP

8.
Action Bronson
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Arian Asllani, better known by the stage name Action Bronson, is an American rapper and former chef. In August 2012, he signed to Warner Bros, Records, but was later moved to Atlantic Records imprint, Vice Records. He released his label debut album, Mr. Wonderful. Bronson was born in Flushing, Queens, New York, the son of an Albanian Muslim father and he was raised in the Muslim tradition. Before embarking on a career as a rapper, which was originally just a hobby and he hosted his own online cooking show titled Action in the Kitchen. After breaking his leg in the kitchen, Bronson concentrated solely on his music career, Action Bronsons debut studio album Dr. Lecter was independently released under Fine Fabric Delegates on March 15,2011. The album, produced entirely by New York City-based music producer Tommy Mas, was available for digital download and also in CD-R. In November of that year, Bronson followed up with Well-Done, on March 12,2012, he released his second mixtape, titled Blue Chips, with Party Supplies. In August 2012, it was announced Paul Rosenberg signed Action Bronson to a management deal with Goliath Artists, which also houses names such as Eminem, The Alchemist, Blink-182 and Danny Brown. Also in August 2012, Bronson was featured on Odd Future-rapper Domo Genesis and American hip hop producer The Alchemists collaborative album No Idols, on tracks Elimination Chamber, later that year Action Bronson joined both Warner Bros. Records, via media company VICE, and concert booking agency NUE, on November 15,2012, Bronson released Rare Chandeliers, a collaborative mixtape with The Alchemist. In March 2013, Bronson performed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and later that month was featured on XXL Magazines 2013 Freshman Class, a list of up-and-coming rappers. In May 2013, Action Bronson was moved to Atlantic Records, the EP was produced entirely by American music producer Harry Fraud and features guest appearances from fellow American rappers Raekwon, Wiz Khalifa, and Prodigy. Released as a download only, the EP was preceded by the single. In July 2013, he indicated wanting to get fellow Queens-bred rappers, Nas and Kool G Rap, also in July, Bronson announced his major-label debut album would be released in early 2014. On November 1,2013, Bronson released Blue Chips 2, on October 28,2013, Funkmaster Flex announced he would be hosting an upcoming Action Bronson mixtape. Production was revealed to be coming from Erick Sermon, Mike Will Made It, DJ Mustard, in a November 2013 interview with Rolling Stone, Bronson stated that he would have Kool G Rap and Mobb Deep, featured on his upcoming album. In February 2014, Action Bronson, J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar and 360 accompanied rapper Eminem, on a tour of Australia, South Africa

9.
Emceeing
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A master of ceremonies, abbreviated M. C. also called compère and announcer, is the official host of a ceremony, a staged event or similar performance. The master of ceremonies sometimes also refers to the officer during an official state function. Today, the term often connotes a master of ceremonies who presents performers, speaks to the audience, entertains people, in addition, the term also exists in various chivalric orders and fraternal orders. The term originated in the Catholic Church, the Master of Ceremonies is an official of the Papal Court responsible for the proper and smooth conduct of the elegant and elaborate rituals involving the Pope and the sacred liturgy. He may also be an involved in the proper conduct of protocols and ceremonials involving the Roman Pontiff, the Papal Court. Examples of official liturgical books prescribing the rules and regulations of liturgical celebrations are Cæremoniale Romanum, the office of the Master of Ceremonies itself is very old. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the most ancient ceremonials and rituals of the Catholic Church are the Ordines Romani, names of Masters of Ceremonies are known since the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. However, copies of books prescribing the forms of rituals, rites and it is reasonable to assume that the ceremonials themselves pre-date Gelasius. However, documentary evidence from the late Roman period is scarce or lost, the ceremonies and practices of the Byzantine emperors are also known to have influenced the papal court. At a large Catholic church or cathedral, the Master of Ceremonies organizes and rehearses the proceedings and he may also have responsibility for the physical security of the place of worship during the liturgy. At major festivities such as Christmas and Easter, when the liturgies are long and complex, the current papal Master of Ceremonies is Monsignor Guido Marini, who succeeded Archbishop Piero Marini. Masters of Ceremonies at weddings and private events also ensure the coordination of their event, became an alternative title for a rapper and for their role within hip hop music and culture. The term is used as a term of distinction, referring to an artist with good performance skills. An MC focuses on skills, lyrical ability, and subject matter, in any comedy show, the compère is the host of the evenings events, but the precise role and responsibilities will vary depending on the country, venue and style of event. The compère will normally do longer bits at the start of the show and after any interval and they may also be required to make announcements, such as birthdays, anniversaries and bar promotions. In some circles the title Master of Ceremonies is also known as Minister of Ceremonies, in the 1940 Disney film, Fantasia, Deems Taylor is the films Master of Ceremonies. Media related to Master of ceremonies at Wikimedia Commons

10.
Monster (Kanye West song)
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Monster is a song by American hip hop recording artist Kanye West, released as the third single from his fifth studio album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The track features rappers Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj, all five credited performers have writing credits on the posse cut, with the production handled by West and Mike Dean. Lyrically the song expresses often disturbing, horror film influenced concepts, the song contains an atmospheric, drum-heavy composition, notable for featuring no samples. The song was listed amongst the best tracks of 2010 by publications, the song debuted and peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 at position 18. The track was promoted with a video directed by Jake Nava. The music video had several references to films and featured extensive horror imagery, with zombies, decapitated corpses. The music video was controversial, being banned from MTV. The video has been criticized for its portrayal of women, to promote his upcoming fifth album, West launched GOOD Fridays, a weekly free music giveaway. In the first week West released onto his website a remix of the albums first single, Power, the song was promptly removed from his website and replaced with another track, with Monster being uploaded as a digital single onto iTunes. West announced that Monster was actually intended for his collaborative album Watch the Throne with Jay-Z, Wests announcement failed to surface however, and the song actually appeared on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and was released as the albums third single. Following some media controversies, West chose to record his fifth studio My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in a manner in Oahu. Like the majority of the album, Monster was composed there, rapper Rick Ross was invited to Hawaii to work with West, because West was set to produce the song Live Fast, Die Young, which appeared on Teflon Don, an album by Ross. While Ross was there with West in his studio, he actually walked in on West while recording another song. Ross was not initially intended to be featured on Wests album, however Ross was so impressed with what he heard he decided to record a quick, Ross had the concept of the song explained to him by West, which according to Ross, blew him away in presentation. West was so impressed by Ross that he invited him back to his studio during the stages of the album. While Ross was there, both Jay-Z and Minaj were recording their verses, Ross expressed his admiration for Minaj, who impressed him during the recording. He stated that what he had observed had earned him respect for Minaj, Minaj expressed excitement when approached to collaborate on the song, and she had contributed 32 bars to the track. Her main inspiration behind working on the track was the possibility of meeting Jay-Z, according to her, she literally couldnt have a conversation without quoting a line by him, and it was a dream come true to collaborate with the artist

11.
BET
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Black Entertainment Television is an American basic cable and satellite television channel that is owned by the BET Networks division of Viacom. It is the most prominent television network targeting African American audiences, the channel has offices in Washington, D. C. New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago, programming on the network consists of original and acquired television series and theatrically and direct-to-video-released films. After stepping down as a lobbyist for the industry, Freeport. Johnson would soon acquire a loan for $15,000 and a $500,000 investment from media executive John Malone to start the network, the network, which was named Black Entertainment Television, launched on January 25,1980. Initially broadcasting for two hours a week as a block of programming on Nickelodeon, the lineup consisted of music videos. BET launched a program, BET News, in 1988. In 1996, the talk show BET Tonight debuted with Tavis Smiley as host, in 2001, in 1991, the network became the first black-controlled TV company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In 2001, the network lost its status as a business when it was bought by media conglomerate Viacom for $3 billion. In 2005, Johnson retired from the network, turning over his titles of president, by 2007, the network had launched two more music-oriented networks, BET Hip-Hop and BET Gospel. BETs president of entertainment Reginald Hudlin resigned from the network on September 11,2008 and he was then replaced by Stephen Hill, who is also executive vice president of music programming and talent. BET announced in March 2010 that Ed Gordon would return to the network to host a variety of news programs, original programming currently seen on BET include Real Husbands of Hollywood, and Being Mary Jane. By the early 2010s, the only regularly airing urban music video program on BET was 106 & Park, BET also airs a program block called BET Inspiration which features Christian programming. In the years after the cancellation of 106 & Park, would BET resume airing infomercials in early mornings and, in 2017, its Christian programming block changed its name to BET Rejoice. In addition, the channel broadcasts acquired television series, primarily in the form of sitcoms, drama series, feature films released theatrically and on home video are also aired on the channel, comprising much of its primetime and weekend schedule. The BET Walk of Fame Awards were established in 1995 by BET, the BET Awards were established in 2001 by the network to celebrate African Americans and other minorities in music, acting, sports and other fields of entertainment over the past year. The awards are presented annually and broadcast live on BET, BET commissioned Artist/Sculptor and Hip-Hop culture icon Carlos Mare139 Rodriguez to design the Award sculpture. Global promotion is provided by Kroszover Entertainment, the BET Honors were established in 2008 by the network to honor the lives and achievements of African-American luminaries

12.
Orlando, Florida
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Orlando is a city in the U. S. state of Florida and the county seat of Orange County. Located in Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 4,000,002, according to U. S. As of 2015, Orlando had an estimated population of 270,934, making it the 73rd-largest city in the United States, the fourth-largest city in Florida. The City of Orlando is nicknamed The City Beautiful, and its symbol is the fountain at Lake Eola, Orlando is also known as The Theme Park Capital of the World and in 2014 its tourist attractions and events drew more than 62 million visitors. The Orlando International Airport is the thirteenth-busiest airport in the United States, with the exception of Walt Disney World, most major attractions are located along International Drive. The city is one of the busiest American cities for conferences and conventions. Orlando is home to the University of Central Florida, which is the largest university campus in the United States in terms of enrollment as of 2015, in 2010, Orlando was listed as a Gamma− level of world-city in the World Cities Study Groups inventory. Orlando ranks as the fourth-most popular American city based on where people want to live according to a 2009 Pew Research Center study. Fort Gatlin, as the Orlando area was known, was established at what is now just south of the city limits by the 4th U. S. Artillery under the command of Ltc, alexander C. W. Fanning on November 9,1838 during the construction of a series of fortified encampments across Florida during the Second Seminole War. The fort and surrounding area were named for Dr. John S. Gatlin, king Phillip and Coacoochee frequented this area and the tree was alleged to be the place where the previous 1835 ambush that had killed over 100 soldiers had been planned. When the U. S. military abandoned the fort in 1839 the surrounding community was built up by settlers, prior to being known by its current name, Orlando was once known as Jernigan. Aarron Jernigan became Orange Countys first State Representative in 1845 but his pleas for military protection went unanswered. Fort Gatlin was briefly reoccupied by the military for a few weeks during October and November 1849, a historical marker indicates that by 1850 the Jernigan homestead served as the nucleus of a village named Jernigan. One of the countys first records, a grand jurys report, mentions a stockade where it states homesteaders were driven from their homes, Aaron Jernigan led a local volunteer militia during 1852. Jernigan appears on an 1855 map of Florida and by 1856 the area had become the county seat of Orange County and it is known for certain that the area was renamed Orlando in 1857. The move is believed to be sparked, in part, by Aaron Jernigans fall from grace after he was relieved of his command by military officials in 1856. His behavior was so notorious that Secretary of War Jefferson Davis wrote, in 1859, Jernigan and his sons were accused of committing a murder at the towns post office

13.
Puerto Ricans
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Puerto Ricans are the inhabitants or citizens of Puerto Rico. It is home to people of different national origins and equate their nationality with citizenship, allegiance. Over 90% of Puerto Ricans descend from migrants from these two regions of Spain. Puerto Rico has also influenced by African culture, Afro-Puerto Ricans being a significant minority. Puerto Rico has also received immigration from other parts of Spain such as Catalonia as well as from other European countries such as France, Ireland, Italy and Germany. The population of Puerto Ricans and descendants is estimated to be between 8 and 10 million worldwide, with most living within the islands of Puerto Rico and in the United States mainland. For 2009, the American Community Survey estimates give a total of 3,859,026 Puerto Ricans classified as Native Puerto Ricans. It also gives a total of 3,644,515 of the population being born in Puerto Rico and 201,310 born in the United States, the total population born outside Puerto Rico is 322,773. Of the 108,262 who were born outside the United States,92. 9% were born in Latin America,3. 8% in Europe,2. 7% in Asia,0. 2% in Northern America. Both run-away and freed African slaves were in Puerto Rico and this interbreeding was far more common in Latin America because of those Spanish and Portuguese mercantile colonial policies exemplified by the oft-romanticized male conquistadors. All of these factors would indeed prove detrimental for the Taínos in Puerto Rico, in 1791, the slaves in Saint-Domingue, revolted against their French masters. Many of the French escaped to Puerto Rico via what is now the Dominican Republic and settled in the west coast of the island, Some Puerto Ricans are of British heritage, most notably Scottish people and English people who came to reside there in the 17th and 18th centuries. They were followed by waves from other European countries and China. During the early 20th century Jews began to settle in Puerto Rico, the first large group of Jews to settle in Puerto Rico were European refugees fleeing German–occupied Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. The second influx of Jews to the island came in the 1950s, the native Taino population began to dwindle, with the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century, through disease and miscegenation. Many Spaniard men took Taino and West African wives and in the first centuries of the Spanish colonial period the island was overwhelmingly racially mixed. However, under Spanish rule, mass immigration shifted the ethnic make-up of the island, Puerto Rico went from being two-thirds black and mulatto in the beginning of the 19th century, to being nearly 80% white by the middle of the 20th century. This was compounded by more flexible attitudes to race under Spanish rule, amerindian ancestry showed less fluctuation, generally hovering between 5% and 20% irrespective of self-identified race

14.
African Americans
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African Americans are an ethnic group of Americans with total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. The term may also be used to only those individuals who are descended from enslaved Africans. As a compound adjective the term is usually hyphenated as African-American, Black and African Americans constitute the third largest racial and ethnic group in the United States. Most African Americans are of West and Central African descent and are descendants of enslaved peoples within the boundaries of the present United States. On average, African Americans are of 73. 2–80. 9% West African, 18–24% European, according to US Census Bureau data, African immigrants generally do not self-identify as African American. The overwhelming majority of African immigrants identify instead with their own respective ethnicities, immigrants from some Caribbean, Central American and South American nations and their descendants may or may not also self-identify with the term. After the founding of the United States, black people continued to be enslaved, believed to be inferior to white people, they were treated as second-class citizens. The Naturalization Act of 1790 limited U. S. citizenship to whites only, in 2008, Barack Obama became the first African American to be elected President of the United States. The first African slaves arrived via Santo Domingo to the San Miguel de Gualdape colony, the ill-fated colony was almost immediately disrupted by a fight over leadership, during which the slaves revolted and fled the colony to seek refuge among local Native Americans. De Ayllón and many of the colonists died shortly afterwards of an epidemic, the settlers and the slaves who had not escaped returned to Haiti, whence they had come. The first recorded Africans in British North America were 20 and odd negroes who came to Jamestown, as English settlers died from harsh conditions, more and more Africans were brought to work as laborers. Typically, young men or women would sign a contract of indenture in exchange for transportation to the New World, the landowner received 50 acres of land from the state for each servant purchased from a ships captain. An indentured servant would work for years without wages. The status of indentured servants in early Virginia and Maryland was similar to slavery, servants could be bought, sold, or leased and they could be physically beaten for disobedience or running away. Africans could legally raise crops and cattle to purchase their freedom and they raised families, married other Africans and sometimes intermarried with Native Americans or English settlers. By the 1640s and 1650s, several African families owned farms around Jamestown and some became wealthy by colonial standards and purchased indentured servants of their own. In 1640, the Virginia General Court recorded the earliest documentation of slavery when they sentenced John Punch. One of Dutch African arrivals, Anthony Johnson, would own one of the first black slaves, John Casor

15.
New Orleans
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New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The population of the city was 343,829 as of the 2010 U. S. Census, the New Orleans metropolitan area had a population of 1,167,764 in 2010 and was the 46th largest in the United States. The New Orleans–Metairie–Bogalusa Combined Statistical Area, a trading area, had a 2010 population of 1,452,502. The city is named after the Duke of Orleans, who reigned as Regent for Louis XV from 1715 to 1723, as it was established by French colonists and it is well known for its distinct French and Spanish Creole architecture, as well as its cross-cultural and multilingual heritage. New Orleans is also famous for its cuisine, music, and its celebrations and festivals, most notably Mardi Gras. The city is referred to as the most unique in the United States. New Orleans is located in southeastern Louisiana, straddling the Mississippi River, the city and Orleans Parish are coterminous. The city and parish are bounded by the parishes of St. Tammany to the north, St. Bernard to the east, Plaquemines to the south, and Jefferson to the south and west. Lake Pontchartrain, part of which is included in the city limits, lies to the north, before Hurricane Katrina, Orleans Parish was the most populous parish in Louisiana. As of 2015, it ranks third in population, trailing neighboring Jefferson Parish, La Nouvelle-Orléans was founded May 7,1718, by the French Mississippi Company, under the direction of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, on land inhabited by the Chitimacha. It was named for Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, who was Regent of the Kingdom of France at the time and his title came from the French city of Orléans. The French colony was ceded to the Spanish Empire in the Treaty of Paris, during the American Revolutionary War, New Orleans was an important port for smuggling aid to the rebels, transporting military equipment and supplies up the Mississippi River. Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid, Count of Gálvez successfully launched a campaign against the British from the city in 1779. New Orleans remained under Spanish control until 1803, when it reverted briefly to French oversight, nearly all of the surviving 18th-century architecture of the Vieux Carré dates from the Spanish period, the most notable exception being the Old Ursuline Convent. Napoleon sold Louisiana to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, thereafter, the city grew rapidly with influxes of Americans, French, Creoles, and Africans. Later immigrants were Irish, Germans, and Italians, Major commodity crops of sugar and cotton were cultivated with slave labor on large plantations outside the city. The Haitian Revolution ended in 1804 and established the republic in the Western Hemisphere. It had occurred several years in what was then the French colony of Saint-Domingue

16.
John Jay Educational Campus (Brooklyn)
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The John Jay Educational Campus is a New York City Department of Education facility at 237 Seventh Avenue between 4th and 5th Streets in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. The building was constructed in 1902, linwood G. Dunn, pioneer of visual special effects in motion pictures. Joe Pepitone, major league player, notably with the New York Yankees. Isidor Isaac Rabi, recipient of the 1944 Nobel Prize in Physics

17.
Park Slope
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Park Slope is a neighborhood in northwest Brooklyn, New York City. Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park and Prospect Park West to the east, Fourth Avenue to the west, Flatbush Avenue to the north, the neighborhood takes its name from its location on the western slope of neighboring Prospect Park. Fifth Avenue and Seventh Avenue are its primary streets, while its east-west side streets are lined with brownstones. The neighborhood had a population of about 62,200 as of the 2000 census, resulting in a density of approximately 68, 000/square mile, or approximately 26. Park Slope is considered one of New York Citys most desirable neighborhoods, Park Slope is part of Brooklyn Community Board 6. The area that comprises the neighborhood of Park Slope was first inhabited by the Native Americans of the Lenape people. The Dutch colonized the area by the 17th century and farmed the region for more than 200 years, during the American Revolutionary War, on August 27,1776, the Park Slope area served as the backdrop for the beginning of the Battle of Long Island. In this battle, over 10,000 British soldiers and Hessian mercenaries routed outnumbered American forces, the historic site of Battle Pass is now preserved in Prospect Park, and on Fifth Avenue there is a reconstruction of the stone farmhouse where a countercharge covered the American retreat. In the 1850s, a lawyer and railroad developer named Edwin Clarke Litchfield purchased large tracts of what was then farmland. Through the American Civil War era, he sold off much of his land to residential developers, during the 1860s, the City of Brooklyn purchased his estate and adjoining property to complete the West Drive and the southern portion of the Long Meadow in Prospect Park. However, Park Slope’s bucolic period ended soon after, many of the large Victorian mansions on Prospect Park West, known as the Gold Coast, were built in the 1880s and 1890s to take advantage of the beautiful park views. Today, many of these buildings are preserved within the 24-block Park Slope Historic District, by 1883, with the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge, Park Slope continued to boom and subsequent brick and brownstone structures pushed the neighborhoods borders farther. The 1890 census showed Park Slope to be the richest community in the United States, in 1892, President Grover Cleveland presided over the unveiling of the Soldiers and Sailors Arch at Grand Army Plaza, a notable Park Slope landmark. The Park Slope Armory was completed in 1893, nearby, Old Stone House is a 1930 reconstruction of the Vechte-Cortelyou House which was destroyed in 1897. It is located on Third Street between Fourth and Fifth Avenues, beside the former Gowanus Creek, realtors and community members saw a clear connection between Park Slopes bucolic setting and the comfort of living there. Baseball had also played a prominent role in the history of the Park Slope area, from 1879 to 1889, the Brooklyn Atlantics played at Washington Park on 5th Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets. When the park was destroyed by a fire, the moved to their part-time home in Ridgewood, Queens. In 1898, the New Washington Park was built between Third and Fourth Avenues and between First and Third Streets near the Gowanus Canal, the team, by this point known as the Dodgers, played to an ever-growing fan base at this location

18.
MSN
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MSN is a web portal and related collection of Internet services and apps for Windows and mobile devices, provided by Microsoft and launched on August 24,1995, the same release date as Windows 95. Along with Windows 95s release, Microsoft debuted The Microsoft Network, at the same time, the company launched a new web portal named Microsoft Internet Start and set it as the first default home page of Internet Explorer, its original web browser. In 1998, Microsoft renamed and moved this web portal to the domain name MSN. com, the current website and suite of apps offered by MSN was first introduced by Microsoft in 2014 as part of a complete redesign and relaunch. MSN is based in the United States and offers international versions of its portal for dozens of countries around the world, from 1995 to 1998, the MSN. com domain was used by Microsoft primarily to promote MSN as an online service and Internet service provider. At the time, MSN. com also offered a start page and an Internet tutorial. Microsofts original news website, msnbc. com, which launched in 1996, was tied closely to the Internet Start portal. The new website put MSN in direct competition with such as Yahoo. Because the new format opened up MSNs content to the world for free, MSN. com became the successor to the default Internet Explorer start page, as all of the previous Microsoft Internet Start website was merged with MSN. com. Some of the websites that Microsoft launched during that era remain active in some form today. Other websites since divested by Microsoft include the travel website Expedia, the online magazine Slate, in the late 1990s, Microsoft collaborated with many other service providers, as well as other Microsoft departments, to expand the range of MSNs services. Some examples include MSN adCenter, MSN Shopping, and the Encarta encyclopedia with various levels of access to information, since then, MSN. com has remained a popular destination, launching many new services and content sites. MSNs Hotmail and Messenger services were promoted from the MSN. com portal, MSN Search, a dedicated search engine, launched in 1999. The single sign-in service for Microsofts online services, Microsoft Passport, the MSN. com portal and related group of services under the MSN umbrella remained largely the same in the early 2000s. The sports section of the MSN portal was ESPN. com from 2001 to 2004, and FoxSports. com from 2004 to 2014. MSN had a partnership with msnbc. com for news content from 1996 until 2012, when Microsoft sold its remaining stake in msnbc. com to NBCUniversal. Since then, MSN has launched MSN News, a news operation. MSN released a preview of a home page and logo on November 3,2009. It was originally expected to be available to over 100 million U. S. customers by early 2010

19.
DJ Premier
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For its 20th-anniversary issue in 2008, The Source selected DJ Premier for its list of the 20 greatest producers in the magazines history. He also made the finals in Vibe magazines 2010 search for the greatest hip hop producer of all time—he finished second after Dr. Dre received 62 percent of the votes. DJ Premier hosts a weekly show, Live From HeadQCourterz. DJ Premier served as one of the three curators for the soundtrack to the video game NBA 2K16, alongside DJ Khaled and DJ Mustard. DJ Premier was born in Houston, Texas, and was raised in Prairie View, Texas, before moving to Brooklyn, New York. He attended Prairie View A&M University, where he honed his skills as the campus DJ. Premier is known for producing all of Gang Starrs songs as well as many of those composed by the Gang Starr Foundation, AZ, Big L, Big Daddy Kane, Bun B, Canibus, Common, DAngelo, D. I. T. C. Dr. Dre, Game, Joey Bada$$, KRS-One, Lord Finesse, Ludacris, mos Def, Nas, Papoose, Rakim, Royce da 59, Snoop Dogg, The LOX, The Notorious B. I. G. Vinnie Paz, Ill Bill, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Immortal Technique, Xzibit, nu metal band Limp Bizkit and Busta Rhymes. Premier collaborated with MC Jeru the Damaja on the album The Sun Rises in the East, released in 1994, as well as the 1996 follow-up, Wrath of the Math. Premier produced and supervised Livin Proof by Group Home, also from the Gang Starr Foundation, although overlooked at the time of its 1995 release, in 2006, pop/R&B singer Christina Aguilera recruited Premier to produce her album Back to Basics. Premier explained the reservations he heard from people regarding the collaboration, When Christina had me work with her, people were like, Oh no. Then when they heard Ain’t No Other Man, Back In The Day, I was worried, but you totally sound like what we love about you. Until you hear it, don’t say a word, I never want to be just attached to hip hop. I want to be attached to music – country, rap, soul, jazz, blues, it doesn’t matter, in 2008, appear in Grand Theft Auto IV as himself radio station The Classics 104.1. Premier produced the majority of Blaq Poets Tha Blaqprint, which was released in mid-2009, Premier contributed a song on Games 2011 album, The R. E. D. Also in 2011, Premier appeared on the song Gangster, on Bushidos album Jenseits von Gut und Böse, Premier was one of the artists followed in the 2012 documentary, Re, GENERATION. The film followed his production of the song Regeneration, for which he used a performance of his work by the Berklee Symphony Orchestra

20.
Estelle (musician)
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Estelle Fanta Swaray, simply known as Estelle, is a British singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress from West London, England. Estelle is known for her eclectic mix of musical genres including R&B, soul, reggae, grime, hip hop. She has experienced success with the single American Boy featuring Kanye West, reaching number 1 in the United Kingdom. Estelle has released critically acclaimed records and received a Grammy Award among other accolades. She is known for her collaborations with artists including John Legend, Robin Thicke, Rick Ross, Chris Brown, will. i. am, since 2013, she has voiced the character Garnet in the animated TV series Steven Universe. Estelle Swaray was born and raised in West London, England and her mothers family came from Senegal, and her father is from the Caribbean island of Grenada. She was the born of eight children. Estelles parents were very religious when she was growing up, instead, spiritual music—particularly American gospel—and traditional African music were what Estelle grew up listening to. However, she would listen to hip hop when not at home. She spent her childhood listening to her parents reggae records and her aunts soul collection before discovering hip hop. I got into hip hop from my uncle, he was playing us Kool G Rap and Big Daddy Kane, he was a bad boy. By the time she was in her early 20s, she had decided on a music career, Estelle got her start in Londons renowned hip-hop record store Deal Real. Her fellow employees encouraged her to take a chance and get on the mic on-stage, soon she was playing numerous London clubs and appearing with the likes of Manuva and Rodney P. Local hero Skitz asked her to appear on his 2000 album, Countryman and she made her solo debut in 2003 with the 12 Excuse Me, released on the label Paradise Isle. Her career got a jump-start in the early 2000s when she happened to see Kanye West sitting in a restaurant while on a trip to Los Angeles, Estelle approached Kanye, introduced herself and asked for an introduction to John Legend. She eventually got that introduction, and Legend eventually helped produce two songs on her debut album, Estelles debut album, The 18th Day, was released in the UK in October 2004. Her breakthrough track came when 1980 was released by the V2 label, in October 2004, V2 released her album, it took its title after how Estelles mother almost died while giving birth to the future singer on 18 January. The album was a modest success, debuting at No.35 on the UK albums chart and she also received a MOBO Award in the UK for Best Newcomer

21.
Lecrae
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Lecrae Devaughn Moore, mononymously known as Lecrae, is an American Christian hip hop artist, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is the president, co-owner and co-founder of the independent record label Reach Records, and the co-founder and president of the non-profit organization ReachLife Ministries. To date, he has released seven albums and three mixtapes as a solo artist, and has released three studio albums, a remix album, and one EP as the leader of the hip hop group 116 Clique. He produced much of his material along with other early Reach Records releases. Lecrae, in reference to his label as a Christian rapper, has stated that his music is just hip hop, in May 2016, Lecrae signed to Columbia Records in a joint deal between his label and Columbia. Lecrae debuted with Real Talk in 2004 through Reach Records and his third solo album, Rebel, released in 2008, became the first Christian hip hop album to reach No.1 on the Billboard Gospel chart. On May 10,2012, Lecrae released his first mixtape, Church Clothes, considered his breakthrough into mainstream hip hop, the mixtape was downloaded over 100,000 times in less than 48 hours. His sixth studio album, Gravity, came out on September 4,2012, Lecrae released his seventh album, Anomaly, on September 9,2014. It debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200 with 88,587 copies sold through the first week, Lecraes filmography includes a role in the television film A Cross to Bear and a brief role as Dr. Malmquist in the comedy film Believe Me. He has also presented on and written about racial tension and injustice in the United States, born and raised by his single mother in Southern Houston, Texas, Lecrae moved often early in life, living in San Diego, Denver, and Dallas. He has stated that he would go to church with his Christian grandmother, Lecrae never met his father, who ended up becoming a drug addict. Experiencing abuse and neglect during his childhood, Lecrae used his ability to rap as a source of significance, according to Lecrae, his grandmother would not allow him to watch rap music videos on television, but he would sneak in late at night. It was in these videos that Lecrae found individuals to look up to, Lecrae states that there were no Martin Luther Kings or Malcolm Xs, they had all passed away so I had Tupac. After being shown a gun by his uncle, Lecrae began looking up to gangsters, Lecrae remembers taking a BB gun and standing in the street pointing it to a car, frightening the female driver, simply for fun. At 11 years old, he started writing music for a rhythm and his first track, written for a neighborhood crush, emulated the style of Tupac, Outkast, and A Tribe Called Quest. At the age of 16, he started taking drugs, fighting, was arrested in high school for stealing, Lecrae tried pretty much every drug there was to try except for heroin and crack cocaine. According to CNN, he became a dealer and used the Bible that his grandmother gave him as a good luck charm. After being arrested for possession, the officer saw the Bible

22.
Q-Tip (musician)
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Kamaal Ibn John Fareed, better known by his stage name Q-Tip, is an American rapper, singer, actor, record producer and DJ. He embarked on his career as part of the critically acclaimed East Coast hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest. In 2012, The Source ranked him #20 on their list of the Top 50 Lyricists of All Time, born Jonathan William Davis on April 10,1970 in Harlem, he converted to Islam in the mid-1990s, and changed his name to Kamaal Ibn John Fareed. He moved to St. Albans, Queens as a child, as referenced in the song Check the Rhime, he mostly resided around Linden Boulevard. His father was from Montserrat, a British territory in the eastern Caribbean and his sister, Gwen, is eight years his elder. He attended Murry Bergtraum High School in Manhattan, New York, according to Fareed, he was given his stage name by Afrika Baby Bam of Jungle Brothers, which he used as a replacement for his prior name, MC Love Child. He has also said that the Q in Q-Tip stands for Queens, in 1999 a Southern rapper known as TIP signed to Arista Records, but shortened his name to T. I. to avoid confusion with his then-labelmate Q-Tip. Throughout his career, he called himself The Abstract. He said that one of the people in his life that inspired him was his childhood friend. Q-Tip lives in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey and he is the cousin of Consequence, who was featured heavily on Beats, Rhymes and Life. According to a DNA analysis, he descended, mainly, from the Jola people of Guinea-Bissau, in 1985, Q-Tip, together with high school friends Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and Jarobi White, founded the critically acclaimed hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest. The band signed to Jive Records and released five albums during its initial run. A Tribe Called Quest reunited in 2006 and played a number of dates. All members of the original lineup returned for the 2006 group, including Q-Tip, in 2016, shortly before the death of Phife Dawg, A Tribe Called Quest recorded their sixth album, releasing it in November of the same year. After the breakup of Tribe in 1998, Q-Tip pursued a solo career, pitchfork noted on the change in tenor, remarking, Abstract the storyteller and social critic been replaced by a scarcely recognizable, sex-obsessed MC. The release of his 2002 follow-up, Kamaal/The Abstract, was delayed despite critical acclaim and it eventually leaked onto the Internet, and the distribution of promotional copies led several publications to run reviews of the album. The album was released on September 15,2009, on Battery Records after being shelved for seven years. Following his work on Kamaal/The Abstract, Q-Tip featured on R. E. M. s 2004 album Around the Sun, early in 2007, Q-Tip signed a new solo deal with Universal Motown Records

23.
Switzerland
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Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a federal republic in Europe. It consists of 26 cantons, and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western-Central Europe, and is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is a country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of 41,285 km2. The establishment of the Old Swiss Confederacy dates to the medieval period, resulting from a series of military successes against Austria. Swiss independence from the Holy Roman Empire was formally recognized in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The country has a history of armed neutrality going back to the Reformation, it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815, nevertheless, it pursues an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. In addition to being the birthplace of the Red Cross, Switzerland is home to international organisations. On the European level, it is a member of the European Free Trade Association. However, it participates in the Schengen Area and the European Single Market through bilateral treaties, spanning the intersection of Germanic and Romance Europe, Switzerland comprises four main linguistic and cultural regions, German, French, Italian and Romansh. Due to its diversity, Switzerland is known by a variety of native names, Schweiz, Suisse, Svizzera. On coins and stamps, Latin is used instead of the four living languages, Switzerland is one of the most developed countries in the world, with the highest nominal wealth per adult and the eighth-highest per capita gross domestic product according to the IMF. Zürich and Geneva have each been ranked among the top cities in the world in terms of quality of life, with the former ranked second globally, according to Mercer. The English name Switzerland is a compound containing Switzer, a term for the Swiss. The English adjective Swiss is a loan from French Suisse, also in use since the 16th century. The name Switzer is from the Alemannic Schwiizer, in origin an inhabitant of Schwyz and its associated territory, the Swiss began to adopt the name for themselves after the Swabian War of 1499, used alongside the term for Confederates, Eidgenossen, used since the 14th century. The data code for Switzerland, CH, is derived from Latin Confoederatio Helvetica. The toponym Schwyz itself was first attested in 972, as Old High German Suittes, ultimately related to swedan ‘to burn’

24.
Ice Cube
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OShea Jackson Sr. known professionally as Ice Cube, is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, actor and filmmaker. He began his career as a member of the hip-hop group C. I. A. after leaving N. W. A in December 1989, he built a successful solo career in music and films such as a role in drama Boyz n the Hood. Additionally, he has served as one of the producers of the Showtime television series Barbershop, both of which are based upon films in which he portrayed the main character. Ice Cube is considered one of the artists in gangsta rap. He was ranked number 8 on MTVs list of the 10 Greatest MCs of All Time, allMusic has called him one of hip-hops best and most controversial artists, as well as one of raps greatest storytellers. In 2012, The Source ranked him number 14 on their list of the Top 50 Lyricists of All Time, in 2014, About. com ranked him number 11 on their list of the 50 Greatest MCs of All Time. OShea Jackson was born on June 15,1969, in South Central Los Angeles, the son of Doris, a clerk and custodian, and Hosea Jackson, who worked as a groundskeeper at UCLA. He has a brother as well as a half-sister who was killed when Ice Cube was 12. In his early teens, Ice Cube developed an interest in hip hop music, Jackson penned his first rap song in the ninth grade after a friend, whom Jackson names Kiddo, challenged him to write a song during a typewriting class. He claims Kiddo lost the challenge, at the age of 16, Jackson sold his first song to future N. W. A. member Eazy-E. Jackson also attended William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills and he enrolled at the Phoenix Institute of Technology in the fall of 1987 in Arizona. Being passionate about architecture, he studied architectural drafting and he completed his diploma within one year and returned to Los Angeles to pursue a rap career. Not sure of whether his rap career would work out, he would turn to become a draftsman as a career backup. With friend Sir Jinx, Ice Cube formed the C. I. A. Dre soon entered the recording industry as a member of the World Class Wreckin Cru. Dre saw Cubes potential as a writer and had him assist with writing Wreckin Crus big L. A. hit track, Stereo Crew produced a twelve-inch record, Shes a Skag released on Epic Records in 1986. While Dr. Dre was DJing at L. A. dance club Eve After Dark, Ice Cube would rap over his music, one such example of this was the song My Penis, a parody of Run-DMCs My Adidas. In a 2015 interview, club-owner Alonzo Williams said that he felt that this damaged his reputation. In 1987, Ice Cube released the Dr. Dre produced single My Posse under with his group C. I. A, after the collaboration, Ice Cube showed Eazy-E the lyrics to Boyz-n-the-Hood

25.
Mos Def
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Yasiin Bey, best known by his stage name Mos Def, is an American hip hop recording artist, actor and activist from Brooklyn, New York City, New York. He subsequently formed the duo Black Star, alongside fellow Brooklyn-based rapper Talib Kweli and he was featured on the roster of Rawkus Records and in 1999 released his solo debut, Black on Both Sides. His debut was followed by The New Danger, True Magic, the editors at About. com listed him as the 14th greatest emcee of all time on their 50 greatest MCs of our time list. Prior to his career in music, Mos Def first entered public life as a actor, having played roles in television movies, sitcoms. He is also known as the host of Def Poetry Jam, Mos Def has been vocal on several social and political causes, including police brutality, the idea of American exceptionalism, and the state of African Americans. Dante Terrell Smith Bey was born in Brooklyn, New York City, the eldest of 12 children and step-children, he was raised by his mother in Brooklyn, while his father lived in New Jersey. At 19, he took his shahada, the Muslim declaration of faith and he is close friends with fellow Muslim rappers Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Kamaal Ibn John Fareed of the rap group A Tribe Called Quest. Mos Def attended middle school at Philippa Schuyler Middle School 383 in Bushwick, after returning from filming You Take the Kids in Los Angeles, and getting into a relationship with an older girl, Mos Def dropped out of high school during sophomore year. In a particularly traumatic childhood experience, Mos Def witnessed his then five year old younger brother Ilias Bey get hit by a car, Bey, who later adopted the alias DCQ, was described by Smith as my first partner in Hip Hop. Mos Def began his rap career in 1994, forming the rap group UTD along with younger brother DCQ. In 2004, they released the album Manifest Destiny, their first, the album features a compilation of previously unreleased and re-released tracks recorded during the original UTD run. In 1996, Mos Def emerged as a solo artist and worked with De La Soul and Da Bush Babees, before he released his own first single, Mos Def signed with Rawkus Records and formed the rap group Black Star with Talib Kweli. The duo released an album, Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star, mostly produced by Hi-Tek, the album featured the singles Respiration and Definition, which both reached in the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Mos Def released his debut album Black on Both Sides in October 1999. The single Ms. Fat Booty charted, while the album reached #25 on the Billboard 200, around this time he also contributed to the Scritti Politti album Anomie & Bonhomie. In January 2002 Rawkus Records was taken over by Geffen Records and it included contributions by Shuggie Otis and Bernie Worrell, Doug Wimbish, and Will Calhoun as the Black Jack Johnson Band. The album reached #5 on the Billboard 200, making it the most successful for the artist to date, the single Sex, Love & Money charted, and was nominated for a Grammy Award. Mos Defs final solo album for Geffen Records, titled True Magic, was released in 2006, the song Crime & Medicine is a remake of GZAs 1995 single Liquid Swords

26.
Illmind
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Ramon Ibanga, Jr. professionally known as Illmind is a Filipino American hip hop producer and educator from Bloomfield, New Jersey. His most recent album, Human, is a collaboration with Joell Ortiz, starting in 2008. llmind has released the free mixtape series Blaps, Rhymes & Life, and he operates a producer showcase in New York city called Beats, Love, Alcohol & Party. Since 2011 he has released albums and producer drum kit albums for music producers dubbed his Blap-Kit sound packs. He established his own music company Roseville Music Group in 2014. Ramon Ibanga, Jr. was born on August 28 in New Jersey, in his early teens he developed an interest in hip hop, and started producing music in 1997. Around 1999 he began to take more seriously and he started sampling, using both hip hop vinyl and obscure records such as his fathers old jazz and soul albums from the Philippines. He began using the program Cubase and an Akai S20 synthesizer around age 17, after learning sampling. llmind began making his own beats and sounds, and in 1999 began uploading his music to online forums such as undergroundhiphop. com. Around 2001 he started participating in the Beat Society producer showcases in Philadelphia and his first official collaborative release with the latter was Nobody Like Me. In early 2007. llmind signed to the label G-Unit, after D Prosper, Sha Money XL, another G-Unit executive, served as. llminds manager for several years. He produced the 2008 Akrobatik hip hop album Absolute Value, in summer of 2012. llminds track The Morning was included on Cruel Summer, a compilation album released on Kanye Wests G. O. O. D. The song peaked at 19 on the US Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart, the genesis of the track was 2007, when. llmind met Chicago-rapper Rhymefest and started sending him beats. For a couple of years, I just kept sending him stuff whenever I had Kanye or him in mind and it must have been 100 beats. And then I get a phone call. from Rhymefest. asking for a session to a beat I made, then he was like, I think Kanye wants to use this for a Pusha T song. Then a few later, he’s like We got Raekwon on this. The first time I heard the album was when it leaked. And I heard it, and I lost it, I would say my life has definitely changed since that moment. In 2008 he won the Philadelphia Red Bull Big Tune Beat Battle, and as of 2012 he has shared the stage in beat showcases with artists such as Kanye West, Just Blaze, Nottz, llmind produced music for Hoodie Allens mixtape, Crew Cuts. The single Cake Boy premiered on February 11,2013 via YouTube with over 30,000 views in the first day, in 2015 he helped Skyzoo on the album Music For My Friends, producing five tracks

27.
XXL (magazine)
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XXL is an American hip hop magazine, published by Townsquare Media, founded in 1997. In August 1997, Harris Publications released the first issue of XXL and it featured rappers Jay-Z and Master P on a double cover. In December 2006, XXL took over the hip hop producer and DJ magazine Scratch. However Scratch shut down less than a later in September 2007. Other titles with limited runs have been launched under the XXL brand, including Hip-Hop Soul, Eye Candy, XXL has released many other special projects including tour programs, mixtapes and exclusive DVDs. XXL also maintains a website, which provides daily hip hop news. In 2014, Townsquare Media acquired XXL, King and Antenna from Harris Publications, on October 14,2014, Townsquare announced it would continue print publication of XXL. In December 2014 the company reported that the magazine would be published on a quarterly basis, the magazines past editors include Reginald C. Dennis, Sheena Lester, Elliott Wilson and Datwon Thomas, in May 2009, Datwon Thomas resigned from XXL and executive editor Vanessa Satten, who had been with XXL since 1998, was named the new Editor-in-Chief. In November 2008 XXL released XXL Raps Volume 1, which included music from 50 Cent, G-Unit, Common, Jim Jones, on August 20,2013 XXL released its 150th issue, also celebrating its sixteenth anniversary. The issue featured the first solo cover on the magazine from Drake, starting in 2007, XXL also releases its annual Top 10 Freshman list. The issue features the ten picks of who to watch out for, and on the cover of the magazine and showcases new rappers that arent well known, the list has become known to create buzz and is credited for giving many artists their first taste of fame

28.
BET Jams
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BET Jams is an American digital cable television network that is controlled by BET Networks and owned by Viacom Media Networks. The channel features hip-hop and urban music videos. The network, formerly known as MTV Jams, was rebranded under the BET banner on October 5,2015, the channel debuted in 2002, replacing MTVX, a network that focused on hard rock and heavy metal which debuted on August 1,1998. After its launch, MTV Jams playlist became predictable and less random than it originally seemed, the new videos that were in heavy rotation were usually played once per hour or once per every two hours. MTV Jams was the last remaining MTV network in the United States to use MTVs original Kabel font for its music video credit tags, MTV Jams switched to the font style used by MTV Hits and rarely by MTV itself in May 2011. The networks logo had a minor readjustment in February 2010 to remove the Music Television tagline, the network had its first full-fledged change in imaging on April 13,2012, in line with the March 26 re-imaging of MTV Hits. A new logo and imaging was introduced on that date, featuring all text in bold Helvetica, the network was rebranded as BET Jams on October 5,2015, to better align with BET. The channel continues to play hip-hop and urban contemporary videos as MTVs mainline networks, including MTV itself and MTV2, with the rebrand, MTV Live along with MTVu remain as the only MTV-branded 24/7 video formatted networks with a music focus. When MTV Jams was replaced with BET Jams, MTV Live started a MTV Jams block which airs late at night, the channel runs on an automated eight-hour wheel schedule that repeats three times a day which starts at 6 a. m. Eastern, with resets at 2 and 10 p. m. ET, beginning in the summer of 2004, MTV Jams added some variety to its programming. Along with MTV Hits, MTV Jams began to more obscure videos, as well as a larger selection of older videos. The automated wheel remained with the changeover to BET, though segments connected to MTV or MTV. com are expected to be discontinued, currently, the breadth of BET Jams playlist surpasses that of BET Soul, with several hundred more videos played on a regular basis. MTV Raps, except for a few small cases, the relaunch as BET Jams was tied to the 2015 BET Hip Hop Awards held nine days later, along with promotion for nominated artists and songs. The network has a weekly Jam of the Week which is announced on Sundays, MTV Jams aired a frequent live game show, Hood Fab, hosted by Buttahman, in which two contestants are asked questions about hip-hop. The contests take place in various cities, the one who answers the most questions correctly gets a bonus question, to which a prize is awarded to that contestant. The artist normally just receives bragging rights and the Official Hood Fab tube socks while the contestant will receive a prize of higher value as well as the tube socks. In the aforementioned episode, the four discussed the autotune T-Pain effect, the network also aired the Ozone Awards for several years under a brokered programming arrangement. These are always unannounced and spontaneous for viewers, in the vein of MTV2s original format, in the fall of 2004, MTV Jams presented a week of shows titled Takeover, where artists were invited to host a day of programming

29.
MC Lyte
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MC Lyte is an American rapper who first gained fame in the late 1980s, becoming the first solo female rapper to release a full album with 1988s critically acclaimed Lyte as a Rock. She has long considered one of hip-hops pioneer feminists. Lana Michelle Moorer was born in 1970, raised in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, she began rapping at the age of 12. After making the label Robinson cut a deal with Atlantic with one condition, originally, her stage name was Sparkle. At age 14, she began recording her first track, although it took two years before it was able to be released, in 1987, when she was 17, Lyte began publicly outshining other MCs. She was also featured in the remix and music video of I Want Your by Irish singer Sinéad OConnor which debuted in May 1988 on MTV, in September 1988, she released her first album, Lyte as a Rock. Written over the course of years, the album was noted for such hits as Paper Thin, its title track, and the battle rap 10% Dis. Both rappers released battle records against each other, Lyte followed her debut with 1989s Eyes on This, which spawned the hits Cha Cha Cha and Cappucino. Both albums were notable for Lytes uncensored lyrical matter and she sweetened up a little on 1991s Act Like You Know, noted for its new jack swing sound and the hit single Poor Georgie. Lytes fourth album, 1993s Aint No Other, became her first to reach gold status and was notable for her first top 40 pop hit, Ruffneck. Ruffneck was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Single and she later went on to become a featured artist on hits by Janet Jackson Two years afterward, Lytes fifth album, Bad As I Wanna B, featured production from Jermaine Dupri and Sean Combs. Its hits were Keep on, Keepin On and Cold Rock a Party and it was her second gold album. Her 1998 follow-up, Seven & Seven, however, was not as successful and she left East West America by the end of the decade. Lyte released the independently produced record The Undaground Heat, featuring Jamie Foxx, in 2003, the single was nominated for both a Grammy and a BET Award. MC Lytes song My Main Aim was the song of the video game NBA Live 2005 by EA Sports. In 2005, she released two songs produced by Richard Wolfie Wolf called Can I Get It Now and Dont Walk Away, in 2007, she released a song called Mad at Me and, in 2008, two songs called Juke Joint and Get Lyte. In 2009 a song titled Brooklyn was released, as well as Craven, dear John was released on September 9,2014 and peaked on the Billboard Twitter Trending 140 chart at number three. After twelve years without an album, MC Lytes eighth album, Legend, Ball and Check are also singles from the album

30.
Lauryn Hill
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Lauryn Noelle Hill is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She is best known for being a member of the Fugees and for her acclaimed solo album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Raised mostly in South Orange, New Jersey, Hill began singing with her family during her childhood. In high school, Hill was approached by Pras Michel to start a band and they renamed themselves the Fugees and released the albums Blunted on Reality and the Grammy Award-winning The Score. Hills tumultuous romantic relationship with Jean led to the split of the band in 1997, the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill remains Hills only solo studio album. It received massive critical acclaim, showcasing a representation of life and relationships, the album debuted at number one on the U. S. Billboard 200 and has sold approximately eight million copies there. It included the singles Doo Wop, Ex-Factor, and Everything Is Everything, at the 41st Grammy Awards, the record earned her five awards, including Album of the Year and Best New Artist. During this time she won numerous awards and became a common sight on the cover of magazines. Soon afterward, Hill dropped out of the eye, dissatisfied with the music industry. Her last full-length recording, the live album MTV Unplugged No. 2.0, sharply divided critics and sold poorly compared to her first album, Hills subsequent activity, which includes the release of a few songs and occasional festival appearances, has been sporadic and erratic. Her behavior has sometimes caused audience dissatisfaction, a reunion with her former group did not last long and her music, as well as a series of public statements she has issued, has become critical of pop culture and societal institutions. Hill has six children, five of whom are with Rohan Marley, in 2012, she pleaded guilty to tax evasion for failure to pay federal income taxes, and in 2013, served a three-month prison sentence. Lauryn Noelle Hill was born on May 26,1975, in East Orange, New Jersey to English teacher Valerie Hill and computer and she has one older brother named Malaney. Her Baptist family moved to New York and Newark for short periods until settling in South Orange and she had a middle-class upbringing, knowing both many white Jewish families and many black ones. Future actor Zach Braff lived in the neighborhood, and she attended his Bar Mitzvah, Hill has said of her musically oriented family, there were so many records, so much music constantly being played. My mother played piano, my father sang, and we were surrounded in music. Her father sang in nightclubs and at weddings

31.
Ladybug Mecca
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Digable Planets was an American alternative hip hop trio formed in 1987, in Brooklyn, New York. The trio is composed of rappers Ishmael Butterfly Butler, Mary Ann Ladybug Mecca Vieira, Butler and Irving met in Philadelphia in the late 1980s, Vieira and Irving had been a couple while attending Howard University. The initial demos recorded under the name Digable Planets featured only Butler, after a brief stint with two other members, Butler began collaborating with Irving and Vieira in 1989. The group signed to Pendulum Records in 1992 and all three members moved to New York, where Butler and Irving became roommates. Their debut album Reachin was released in 1993 and certified gold by the RIAA, the track peaked at #67 in the UK Singles Chart in February 1995. The groups second album Blowout Comb was released in 1994, the album was noted by critics as a stark departure from the previous album, being darker, less hook-oriented and more overtly political in its references to Black Panther and Communist imagery. Writing for Spin in December 1994, Craig Marks declared it, a beguiling, demanding, damn near revolutionary follow-up. Blowout Comb features guest appearances from artists Jeru the Damaja, Sulaiman, in the same year the group appeared on the Red Hot Organizations compilation album, Stolen Moments, Red Hot + Cool. The album, meant to raise awareness and funds in support of the AIDS epidemic in relation to the African American community, was heralded as Album of the Year by Time magazine, the band subsequently disbanded in early 1995 citing creative differences. From 2009 to 2011, Butler and Irving toured across the U. S. Canada, and Europe with a live band, support acts included Camp Lo and Butlers Shabazz Palaces. The group performed at Numbers, in Houston, Texas, on May 15,2010, the group also performed alongside hip-hop group The Pharcyde at the North by Northeast music festival in Toronto, Ontario on June 19,2011. A reunion show scheduled for December 2012 in Seattle, Washington was cancelled days before the performance, when asked in a subsequent interview about the groups status, Butler stated I think its the end. Despite Butlers previous statement, it was announced in October 2015 that the trio would reunite for a concert at Seattles Neptune Theatre on December 30 alongside Shabazz Palaces. Digable Planets held a tour during spring and summer 2016. Butler released Bright Black under the moniker Cherrywine in 2003 before going on to collaborate with multi-instrumentalist Tendai Baba Maraire as Shabazz Palaces, in 2009 the duo self-released two EPs, Shabazz Palaces and Of Light before becoming the first Hip-hop act to be signed to Sub Pop Records. Their debut LP Black Up was released in 2011 followed by Lese Majesty in 2014, Butler has also been signed to Sub Pops A&R division and is helping the label build its repertoire of artists that are imaginative and daring. Butler and Maraire later collaborated with Hussein Kalonji as Chimurenga Renaissance to release riZe vadZimu riZe in March 2014 on Brick Lane Records. Irving, also known as Cee Knowledge, tours with Cee Knowledge & the Cosmic Funk Orchestra and has released two albums in limited edition on FarmHouse Records, Vieira, also known as Lady Mecca, released Trip The Light Fantastic in 2005

32.
Big Pun
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Christopher Lee Rios, better known by his stage name Big Pun, was an American rapper. Emerging from the hip hop scene in The Bronx borough of New York City, in the early 1990s. He first appeared on tracks from Fat Joes second album Jealous Ones Envy in 1995, Puns lyrics are notable for technical efficiency, having minimal pauses to take a breath, heavy use of alliteration as well as internal and multi-syllabic rhyming schemes. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, about. com ranked him #25 on its list of the 50 Greatest MCs of All Time, while MTV2 ranked him #11 on its list of the 22 Greatest MCs. In 2012, The Source ranked him #19 on their list of the Top 50 Lyricists of All Time, Rios was born on November 10,1971 in The Bronx, New York City, United States, to parents of Puerto Rican descent. He grew up in the South Bronx neighborhood of the city, at the age of five, Rios broke his leg while playing in a park, which would later lead to a large settlement from the city. By all accounts from Puns family, his years were very difficult, including witnessing his mothers drug abuse. During the mid-1980s, he began writing rap lyrics and he later formed the underground rap group called Full-A-Clips which included rappers Lyrical Assassin, Joker Jamz and Toom. Rios made a number of recordings with the group in the early-1990s, at this point Rios was operating under the alias Big Moon Dawg. He also appeared on The Beatnuts song Off the Books Later, Im Not a Player was supported by a significant advertising campaign, in 1996 Big Pun began recording songs for his debut album Capital Punishment. In 1997 producer Knobodys production partner Sean C took advantage of his new role as A&R at Loud Records to play Knobodys tracks to Big Pun, suitably impressed the rapper hired Knobody to remix Im Not a Player. The remixed song, featuring Joe and titled Still Not a Player, became Big Puns first major mainstream hit, the full-length debut Capital Punishment followed in 1998, and became the first album by a solo Latino rapper to go platinum, peaking at #5 on the Billboard 200. Capital Punishment was also nominated for a Grammy, the album did not fare well commercially but it was well received critically and the album was meant to start the foundation for all other Terror Squad members to release their solo projects. Pun struggled with a problem for all of his adult life. His weight fluctuated in the early 1990s between obese and morbidly obese, Pun was pronounced dead at the hospital after paramedics could not revive him. Big Pun was at his highest weight at the time of his death,698 pounds and he was cremated a few days later. Big Pun is survived by his wife, Liza, and their three children, Amanda, Vanessa, and Christopher Jr and his second album, Yeeeah Baby, completed after his death, was released as originally intended in April 2000. It peaked at #3 on the Billboard charts and earned gold status within three months of its release

33.
Wu-Tang Clan
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Cappadonna later became an official member of the group. The group was formed in and is associated with the New York City borough of Staten Island, the Wu-Tang Clan has released seven gold and platinum studio albums with worldwide sales of more than 40 million albums, including members solo projects, since 1992. Its debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang, is considered to be one of the greatest albums in hip-hop history and it is said to have been groundbreaking for hip-hop and one of the most important hip-hop albums. In 2008, About. com ranked them the No.1 greatest hip hop group of all time, kris Ex of Rolling Stone called Wu-Tang Clan the best rap group ever. In 2004, NME hailed them as one of the most influential groups of the last ten years, All in Together Now was never signed to a record label. See, me, GZA, and ODB had a crew called FOI, Force of the Imperial Master, nah mean. We made a song, called All in Together Now, which became famous on tapes throughout Brooklyn, Downtown Staten Island, New York, I remember Biz Markie, when he was famous and I wasnt famous, and he was like, Yo. Your song with Ason Unique and The Specialist, so we never got signed as a group back then. We never had a record deal under that title. The Wu-Tang Clan was assembled in the early 1990s with RZA as the de facto leader, Method Man – who met RZA in 1990 after hearing a tape the producer recorded as Prince Rakeem – recalled, I went round his house. We went to the basement and I guess they was showin off cos I was there, thered be RZA and his brother Devon on the decks. RZA was cuttin, Devond go cut off the light, then RZAs go cut on the light, Devond be cutting and they was doing some wild shit, man. And Ol Dirty was there and hed echo every rhyme of RZAs while beatboxing and that was the beginning of Wu-Tang. RZA and Ol Dirty Bastard adopted the name for the group after the film Shaolin, the groups debut album loosely adopted a Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang theme, dividing the album into Shaolin and Wu-Tang sections. This album turned out to be acclaimed, and to date is regarded as one of the greatest hip hop/rap albums of all time. And all these labels still put Razor Sharp Records on the credits Wu Tang was a financial movement, so what do you wanna diversify. RZA was the first to follow up on the success of Enter the Wu-Tang with a project, founding the Gravediggaz with Prince Paul and Frukwan. The Gravediggaz released 6 Feet Deep in August 1994, which one of the best known works to emerge from hip hops small subgenre of horrorcore

34.
A Tribe Called Quest
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A Tribe Called Quest is an American hip-hop group formed in 1985 and originally composed of MC and producer Q-Tip, MC Phife Dawg and DJ and producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad. A fourth member, MC Jarobi White, left the group in 1991 after the release of their debut album and he continued to contribute to the band sporadically before rejoining for their 2006 reunion. Along with De La Soul, the group was a part of the Native Tongues. The group released six albums between 1990 and 2016, the band broke up in 1998 after releasing their fifth album. In 2006, the group reunited and toured the United States, in 2016, they released their sixth album, which was still incomplete when Phife Dawg died suddenly in March 2016, and was completed by the other members after his death. The group is regarded as a pioneer of alternative hip-hop music, the Source gave the groups debut album a rating of five mics, the first time the magazine gave out this rating. In 2005, A Tribe Called Quest received a Special Achievement Award at the Billboard R&B Hip-Hop Awards in Atlanta, in 2007, the group was formally honored at the 4th VH1 Hip-Hop Honors. Q-Tip and Phife Dawg were childhood friends who grew up together in Queens, initially, Q-Tip performed as a solo artist under the name MC Love Child, occasionally teaming up with Ali Shaheed Muhammad as a rapper and DJ duo. While the duo frequently made demos with Phife, then known as Crush Connection, the groups final name was coined in 1988 by the Jungle Brothers, who attended the same high school as Q-Tip and Muhammad. Q-Tip made two appearances on the Jungle Brothers debut album, Straight Out the Jungle, in the songs Black is Black. Geffen decided against offering the group a contract, and the group was granted permission to shop for a deal elsewhere. After receiving lucrative offers for multi-album deals from a variety of labels, Jive Records was then known as an independent rap label that partly owed its success to building the careers of artists Boogie Down Productions and Too Short. Less than a year after signing with Jive, the released their first single, Description of a Fool. Their debut album Peoples Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm was marked by a lyrical approach. Peoples Instinctive Travels was initially met with mixed reviews, count Dracula of The Village Voice called the album upliftingly dope and so sweet and lyrical, so user-friendly. You could play it in the background when youre reading Proust, the Source gave it five mics, the magazines highest possible rating. However, Chuck Eddy of Rolling Stone wrote that the album is one of the least danceable rap albums ever, the album only gained momentum after the release of the singles Bonita Applebum and Can I Kick It. and went gold six years later. After its release, White left the group for personal reasons, a remastered 25th anniversary edition of Peoples Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm is now available on Legacy Recordings and RCA Records

35.
Slum Village
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Slum Village is a hip hop group from Conant Gardens, Detroit, Michigan. The group was formed by three members, rappers Baatin and T3, plus rapper and producer J Dilla, J Dilla left in 2001 to pursue a solo career with MCA Records. Elzhi joined in his absence, after which Baatin also left due to health complications, following J Dillas death in 2006 and Baatins death in 2009, T3 remains the sole surviving member of the original lineup. Over its history the group has been through several changes, which once included J Dillas younger brother Illa J. Rappers Baatin and T3 along with producer J Dilla grew up together in the Conant Gardens neighborhood of Detroit and it was here in 1990 that they formed the group, which originally went by the name of Ssenepod. Around this time the group would hone their skills during open-mic nights at Detroits Hip-Hop Shop along with a young Eminem, Ssenepod was renamed to Slum Village in 1991. From 1996-1997 the group recorded their first album Fantastic, however it was not officially released until 2005,8 years after original recording, Slum Village signed their first record deal in 1998 with the now defunct Barak/A&M records. Due to internal politics with the label, the group was forced to release their 2000 album Best Kept Secret under the alias J-88, Best Kept Secret featured remixes and leftover material from the heavily boot-legged Fantastic, Vol.1. That same year Fantastic, Vol.2 was released on GoodVibe Recordings, which featured appearances from Busta Rhymes, Common, DAngelo, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Pete Rock, Kurupt, fresh out of high school, the group steadily became popular in Detroits underground hip hop scene. In 1998, Slum Village opened for A Tribe Called Quest, in 2001, J Dilla left Slum Village to pursue a solo career, however he frequently assisted Young RJ with production of the groups later albums. J Dilla died on February 10,2006, after being diagnosed with TTP, in light of his game-changing impact in the world of music production, many high-profile artists mourned and paid tribute to him following his death. Slum Villages 2015 album YES. features songs that were produced by Dilla before his 2006 death, Titus Glover, also known as Baatin, was an American rapper who emerged from the mid-1990s underground hip hop scene in Detroit, Michigan part of the rap group Slum Village. Baatin started rapping as a student at Pershing High School in Detroit where he went by the names Scandalous-T, in the early 1990s Glover adopted the name Baatin. He claimed the name was chosen to reflect a newfound spirituality, Baatin remained as an active member of the group until the early 2000s. In 2002, shortly after the release of the third album, Baatin began to experience health problems. In regard to his problems, he said, Suffering from mental illness. He was later diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression, Baatin stated that he was kicked out while in hospital, receiving a termination letter that was signed by both T3 and Elzhi, while in the hospital. He also held the groups label responsible, in an interview he stated, After leaving the group, he began recording as a solo artist

36.
Jazz rap
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Jazz rap is a fusion subgenre of hip hop music and jazz, developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Musically, the rhythms have been typically those of hip hop rather than jazz, over which are placed repetitive phrases of jazz instrumentation, trumpet, double bass, lyrics are often based on political consciousness, Afrocentrism, and general positivism. A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Dream Warriors, in the 1970s, The Last Poets, Gil Scott-Heron, and The Watts Prophets placed spoken word and rhymed poetry over jazzy backing tracks. There are also parallels between jazz and the improvised phrasings of freestyle rap, despite these disparate threads, jazz rap did not coalesce as a genre until the late 1980s. In 1985, jazz fusion band Cargo, led by Mike Carr, released the single Jazz Rap, appearing on the album Jazz Rap, Volume One. In 1988, Gang Starr released the debut single Words I Manifest, sampling Dizzy Gillespies 1952 Night in Tunisia, and Stetsasonic released Talkin All That Jazz, sampling Lonnie Liston Smith. Gang Starrs debut LP, No More Mr. Nice Guy, the Low End Theory has become one of hip hops most acclaimed albums, and also earned praise from jazz bassist Ron Carter, who played double bass on one track. De La Souls Buhloone Mindstate featured contributions from Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley, and Pee Wee Ellis, also of this period was Toronto-based Dream Warriors 1991 release And Now the Legacy Begins. It produced the hit singles My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style, the first of these was based on a loop taken from Quincy Jones Soul Bossa Nova, while the second sampled Count Basies 1967 rendition of Hang On Sloopy. Meanwhile, Los Angeles hip hop group Freestyle Fellowship pursued a different route of influence in recordings with unusual time signatures. Jazz musician Branford Marsalis collaborated with Gang Starrs DJ Premier on his Buckshot LeFonque project that same year. Digable Planets 1993 release Reachin was a hit jazz rap record sampling the likes of Don Cherry, Sonny Rollins, Art Blakey, Herbie Mann, Herbie Hancock, Grant Green and it spawned the hit single Rebirth of Slick. Also in 1993, Us3 released Hand on the Torch on Blue Note Records, All samples were from the Blue Note catalogue. The single Cantaloop was Blue Notes first gold record and this period was the high-water mark for jazz raps popularity among hip hop listeners, following which it came to be regarded for a time as a trend which was played out. Musical jazz references became less obvious and less sustained, and lyrical references to jazz certainly more rare. Since 2000 it can be detected in the work of such as J. Rawls, Nujabes, Fat Jon, Madlib, Kero One. A project somewhat similar to Buckshot Le Fonque was Brooklyn Funk Essentials, One hip hop project which continued to maintain a direct connection to jazz was Gurus Jazzmatazz series, which used live jazz musicians in the studio. Madlibs 2003 release Shades of Blue paid homage to his Blue Note Records roots, the album also contains interpretations of Blue Note classics performed by Yesterdays New Quintet

37.
Joell Ortiz
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Joell Ortiz is an American rapper and a member of the group Slaughterhouse. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, Ortiz grew up in the Cooper Park Houses in the East Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, formerly signed to Dr. Dres Aftermath Entertainment record label. He was featured in the Unsigned Hype column of the March 2004 issue of The Source Magazine and was selected as Chairmans Choice in XXL Magazine. During the same time Joell also went on to win the 2004 EA Sports Battle which earned his song Mean Business a spot on the NBA Live 2005 soundtrack, the same year he was offered a contract to Jermaine Dupris So So Def label. He released his debut album The Brick, Bodega Chronicles in 2007 and he went on to release Free Agent and House Slippers. Joell Ortiz was born to Puerto Rican parents in Brooklyn, New York, Ortiz grew up in the Cooper Park Houses in the East Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, formerly signed to Dr. Dres Aftermath Entertainment record label. He was featured in the Unsigned Hype column of the March 2004 issue of The Source Magazine and was selected as Chairmans Choice in XXL Magazine. During the same time Joell also went on to win the 2004 EA Sports Battle which earned his song Mean Business a spot on the NBA Live 2005 soundtrack, the same year he was offered a contract to Jermaine Dupris So So Def label. The deal quickly went sour which caused Joell to start beef with Jermaine, Joell has since collaborated with KRS-One and Kool G. Rap. Joell released his album called The Brick, Bodega Chronicles April 24,2007. The album was recorded while Joell was trying to get signed, even though he was signed to Aftermath Entertainment, Dr. Dre allowed him to release the street album on Koch Records. The Brick features productions from Showbiz, The Alchemist, Domingo, Ho Chi from Killahertz Productions, guest spots include Big Daddy Kane, Styles P, Big Noyd, M. O. P, Akon, Immortal Technique, Grafh, Ras Kass, Stimuli, and Novel. Joell Ortiz is one quarter of the supergroup Slaughterhouse who released their highly anticipated Slaughterhouse EP on February 8,2011, the group released their second studio album, Welcome to, Our House, on August 28,2012. Though signed to Aftermath, Ortiz released an album titled The Brick, the Brick features production by Showbiz, Street Radio, and The Alchemist, among others. Guest artists include rappers Big Daddy Kane, Styles P, Big Noyd, Akon, Immortal Technique, Grafh, Ortiz parted ways with Aftermath Entertainment on April 15,2008. 2009 was a year for Ortiz, as he released a number of freestyles and remixes leading up to the Road Kill mixtape. Among these was Stressful a song that remixed Drakes Successful, Joe Budden reached out to Crooked I, Royce da 59, Joell Ortiz, and Nino Bless for a track titled Slaughterhouse on his digital release, Halfway House. Based on the reception of the track, they decided to form a super-group, minus Nino Bless and they released numerous songs throughout early 2009, building a buzz for their self-titled album which was released through E1 on August 11,2009

38.
Bodega Bamz
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Nathaniel De la Rosa, better known as Bodega Bamz, is an American rapper of Dominican and Puerto Rican descent from Spanish Harlem, New York City. The 2012 mixtape release of Strictly 4 My P. A. P. I. Z, showcased Bodega Bamz artistry, includes features from ASAP Ferg, Joell Ortiz, A$ton Matthews, Tego Calderon and Flatbush Zombies. Bodega Bamz teamed up with The Martinez Brothers and released an EP, in 2015 released his debut album Sidewalk Exec. Nathaniel De la Rosa, better known as Bodega Bamz, is an emerging artist from Spanish Harlem, the 2012 mixtape release of Strictly 4 P. A. P. I. Z, showcased Bodega Bamz artistry and further solidified his place in the hip-hop community. Includes features from ASAP Ferg, Joell Ortiz, A$ton Matthews, Bodega Bamz teamed up with The Martinez Brothers and released an EP, Sunday Service. In 2015, Bodega Bamz released his debut album Sidewalk Exec, Bodega Bamz also showcased another one of his talents by making his acting debut in his own cult film The Streets Owe Me and Hell Train. The Rest Is Noise Loosies & Brewskies Strictly 4 My P. A. P. I. Z, Sunday Service Sidewalk Exec Menace Tan Society All Eyez Off Me P. A. P. I. Z. New Jack City Is Mine with Mr. Green on Live From The Streets Wheres The Love with Termanology, Bun B and Masspike Miles on More Politics My Team Supreme 2.0 with Flatbush Zombies

39.
Julie Anne San Jose
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Julie Anne Peñaflorida San Jose is a Filipino singer, actress, model and television personality. Simply referred to as MYJAPS, made a significant mark in the world with uStream sessions. Her cover of Nicki Minajs Super Bass views are more than 20 million, born to computer operator Jonathan Roque San Jose and instructor Marivic Camzon Peñaflorida, San Jose graduated in May 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts in communication arts degree at Angelicum College. At the age of three years, San Jose had her first TV experience when she joined Eat Bulaga. s Little Miss Philippines and she also competed in Magandang Tanghali Bayan, s Munting Miss U where she won third runner-up. She also appeared in a TV advertisement with Sharon Cuneta, San Jose did not pursue show business until 2005, when she joined Popstar Kids, a singing competition in QTV11 hosted by R&B singer-songwriter Kyla. Sugarpop released two albums, Sugar Pop and Sugar Pop Repackaged. The group also had a show on QTV11 entitled Planet Q, sugarpop also performed weekly on the GMA-7s variety show, SOP. In 2008, San Jose made her acting on GMAs afternoon soap Gaano Kadalas, where she played a supporting character to Camille Prats and Marvin Agustin. When SOP ended in 2010, San Jose joined its replacement show Party Pilipinas as a solo artist, as she evolved as a performer, San Jose was able to showcase her singing, dancing, and acting abilities onstage. San Jose was also paired with a then-budding artist and son of rapper, collectively, they were known as the musical tandem JuliElmo. San Jose became more visible on the television scene and she was included as one of the support casts in the GMA Network shows Andres de Saya and Daldalita. In February 2012, San Jose signed a recording contract with GMA Records. Six months later, in August 2012, she released her eponymous album, Julie Anne San Jose. Her single, Ill Be There, remains the single certified quadruple platinum by the Philippine Association of the Record Industry. Currently, San Jose has released four singles from her album, after having multiple support roles, in 2012 San Jose finally landed a lead role through the youth oriented weekly show Together Forever. She played the role of Antoinette Escueta, more known as Toyang. In 2012, Julie Anne debuted as an actress through GMA Films romantic summer film Just One Summer opposite her JuliElmo partner Elmo Magalona. She played the role of Maria Bettina Beto Reyes Salazar and she also sang the movie theme song Bakit Ba Ganyan

40.
Population Control (album)
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Population Control is the fourth studio album by East Coast hip hop producer Statik Selektah. The album was released on October 25,2011, the album features guest appearances from Sean Price, Termanology, Big K. R. I. T. The album debuted at number 11 on the US Billboard Top Heatseekers chart in the first week of its release, Population Control was met with positive reviews from music critics. Still, as an artist who has built his reputation on consistency, jesse Gissen of XXL gave the album an L, saying The biggest problem with the album is Statiks need to include everyone in the party. A lot of the tracks felt too cluttered with MCs that lacked chemistry together and with 20 tracks, luckily for listeners, Statiks ability to flip a beat never disappoints, as he makes sure to keep heads nodding no matter whose turn it is on the mic. Hopefully, next time Statik will be a more selective on whom he decides to include in the general population. Like a zombie rap invasion, no matter how many you kill it will never be enough, instead the only way to ensure the survival of the dope rap species is to strengthen from within, make the music indestructibly good. So, without exaggeration, Statiks not only put together a nice album and its exactly the kind of Population Control the game so badly needs. The album debuted at number 11 on the US Billboard Top Heatseekers chart in the first week of its release, all songs produced by Statik Selektah

41.
Statik Selektah
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Patrick Baril, professionally known as Statik Selektah, is an American record producer, disc jockey and radio personality from Boston, Massachusetts. He is also the founder of Showoff Records and in 2010, he formed the hip hop group 1982, Statik Selektah was born in 1982. Statik Selektah was introduced to music at an age, experimenting with his parents eight-track machine, cassette recorders. Statik began doing radio at Phillips Exeter Academy’s WPEA, where he also occasionally DJ’ ed some of the Afro-Latino Society Parties, naming himself DJ Statik, he began to start to DJ at clubs and private parties up and down the New England Coast. In 2000, Selektah moved back to Massachusetts from New Hampshire to pursue an audio production degree at Bostons New England Institute of Art, around this time, Statik started to put out his own mixtape series titled Spell My Name Right. In 2003, Statik created ShowOff Marketing, which has had such as Reebok, G-Unit Records, Virgin Records, Capital, Universal Records, Diddy’s Vote or Die campaign. In 2006, Statik Selektah made Showoff into a record label, in 2007, Statik released his first LP, titled Spell My Name Right, and came out with a second Stick 2 the Script in 2009. In 2010, Statik Selektah dropped another album 100 Proof, The Hangover which reached 37 on Billboards Heatseeker Albums Chart, besides dropping his own albums, he also has produced on many other artists projects. Statik currently has a show on Thursday nights on Eminems Shade 45 XM/Sirus Radio Station, in 2009, Statik Selektah appeared on Grand Theft Auto, Episodes from Liberty City, featuring as a DJ on the hip hop radio station The Beat 102.7. While recording with rapper Freeway on Ustream, he announced a song off his album, Population Control. This track was included on the release of Population Control in 2011

42.
Rapsody
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Rapsody is an American rapper from Snow Hill, North Carolina. Rapsody began her career as a member of the North Carolina-based hip-hop group and she launched her solo career in 2008 after signing with 9th Wonders Its A Wonderful World Music Group. Her first significant career breakthrough came with the release of her mixtape Return of the B-Girl on December 7,2010, Return of the B-Girl marked her first work with legendary hip-hop producer, DJ Premier, and featured guests such as Mac Miller and Big Daddy Kane. She continued to acclaim with the release of her next mixtape. In May 2011, Rapsody joined Mac Miller on his Incredibly Dope Tour for 15 dates, in late 2011, she toured with Phonte and 9th Wonder as a part of the Phonte & 9th Wonder Tour. On July 16,2016, it was announced that Rapsody was signed to Jay-Zs record label Roc Nation, Rapsody is known for her intricate rhyme patterns, metaphors, and wordplay. She cites Jay-Z, Mos Def, Lauryn Hill and MC Lyte as the biggest influences on her music and her production is primarily handled by The Soul Council, which is the team of in-house producers at Its A Wonderful World Music Group. The producers that comprise The Soul Council are E. Jones, Fatin 10 Horton, Ka$h Dont Make Beats, AMP, Eric G. rapsodys philosophy is Culture Over Everything, referring to the culture of hip-hop music. She describes this phrase in an interview with Vibe Magazine where she says, To me, I make music for the people of the culture we’re in, that comes first. If you touch the people first, the rest just falls into place, that’s what it means to me, just preserving and respecting the culture. The Idea of Beautiful The Summer Sessions EP Eastern Standard Time Kooley High Presents. David Thompson Return of the B-Girl Thank H. E. R, now For Everything She Got Game The Black Mamba Beauty and the Beast Crown Official website Its A Wonderful World Music Group Website

43.
Styles P
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David Styles, better known by his stage name, Styles P, is an American rapper, author, and entrepreneur. In 2002, he released his debut album A Gangster and a Gentleman. He went on to release Time is Money, Super Gangster, Master of Ceremonies, The Worlds Most Hardest MC Project, Float, Phantom and the Ghost, and A Wise Guy and a Wise Guy. Styles P, a member of The LOX and the larger D-Block Hip-Hop collective, grew up in Yonkers, New York rapping alongside Jadakiss and Sheek Louch. In their late teens the trio met Mary J. Blige who was so impressed with their tough street east coast lyrics, Diddy immediately hired the trio to write for Bad Boy Records. With the label, The LOX quickly started collaborating on hits with Diddy, Mary J. Blige, and Mariah Carey which gave them instant notoriety and status within the hip-hop and mainstream charts. This single was the most played hit in 1997, which opened the door for The LOX first solo debut in January 1998 entitled Money. After another LOX album, We Are the Streets and appearing on albums with Ruff Ryders, Styles released his first solo album, A Gangster, four years later he released his second album Time is Money on Ruff Ryders which was followed by Super Gangster a year later. This began a string of annual releases with his fourth, fifth, sixth. Styles P released his first novel Invincible in 2010 through Random House Publishing Group, in 2011 he opened up a juice bar in Bronx, New York called Juices for Life with his business partners Nyger Rollocks and Leo Galvez. He released his EP with CurrenSy titled, #The1st28 on February 28,2012, a Novel Official Site Styles P Interview at Prefix The DJ Booth, Styles P Interview Styles P Interview New Styles P interview with HipHopGame. com

44.
Currensy
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Shante Scott Franklin, better known by his stage name Currensy is an American rapper from New Orleans, Louisiana. He was one of the members of Young Money Entertainment. In 2011, Franklin founded the label Jet Life Recordings, in 2002, Curren$y was signed to Master Ps No Limit Records and was a member of the 504 Boyz. The song Get Back by 504 Boyz Produced by Donald XL Robertson made it to the Malibus Most Wanted soundtrack, Curren$y appeared on 5 songs in Master Ps Good Side, Bad Side album, released in 2004. Even though he was signed with No Limit, he represented C-Murders TRU label, Curren$y has several songs with incarcerated friend C-Murder, and was featured on the late Soulja Slims album, Years Later. Later on in 2004, Curren$y signed with Cash Money Records and he featured in Lil Waynes Dedication, Dedication 2, The Suffix and several unreleased songs while with Young Money. He released a mixtape entitled Welcome Back in 2004 and he was featured in Lil Waynes Grown Man on Tha Carter II. While still at Young Money, Curren$y created Fly Society with skateboarder Terry Kennedy, first as a clothing company, then expanding to release music. He released the song, Where da Cash At as the single for his Young Money debut, Music To Fly To, in 2006. In 2007, another mixtape was released entitled Life at 30,000 Feet and he remained with Young Money until late 2007. For several months throughout 2008, Curren$y released a series of mixtapes, Curren$y signed with Amalgam Digital to release his debut album, This Aint No Mixtape, in 2009. This album was produced by Monsta Beatz. Curren$y also released his album, Jet Files, through Amalgam Digital in 2009. Amalgam Digital released physical copies of This Aint No Mixtape and Jet Files on May 31,2010, Curren$ys third album, Pilot Talk, was released on July 13,2010. The album featured guest appearances by Snoop Dogg, Big K. R. I. T. and Mos Def, amongst others, prior to the albums release, there was news of Pilot Talk being released under a newly relaunched Roc-A-Fella Records. Curren$y made numerous appearances on labelmate Ski Beatz debut studio album,24 Hour Karate School, Curren$ys fourth album, Pilot Talk II, was released on November 22,2010, which featured Fiend and Raekwon, among others, with many of the songs produced by Ski Beatz. 2010 also saw the release of mixtape Smokee Robinson with DJ Don Cannon, on February 1,2011, it was announced that Curren$y signed a label deal with Warner Bros. Records for his imprint, Jet Life Recordings. Covert Coup was his first project on his Jet Life Recordings imprint under Warner Bros, released for free via Curren$ys official website on April 20, the album contains ten songs completely produced by The Alchemist